Contributor post by Penelope and Pip
A few birthdays ago, my beautiful sister gave me a cute little inspirational quote block with illustrated cards you could change every day.
I absolutely loved it and have had it on my desk at work ever since.
However, a couple of years later and looking at the same quotes every day I was starting to feel a little bit uninspired (I really felt like I had "taken my wings and soared" over and over!)
And then ironically, a wonderful little inspiration hit me - I could make my own block with some new quotes.
I wanted to make the wooden block part so I could make bigger cards, but I am banned from the drop saw (I don't even have a key to the shed!), so instead I used balsa wood. It's super lightweight and easy to cut with a knife. Perfect for this project.
I've even made three cute quote cards for you to get you started. Hooray!
Firstly, grab your materials:
A few birthdays ago, my beautiful sister gave me a cute little inspirational quote block with illustrated cards you could change every day.
I absolutely loved it and have had it on my desk at work ever since.
However, a couple of years later and looking at the same quotes every day I was starting to feel a little bit uninspired (I really felt like I had "taken my wings and soared" over and over!)
And then ironically, a wonderful little inspiration hit me - I could make my own block with some new quotes.
I wanted to make the wooden block part so I could make bigger cards, but I am banned from the drop saw (I don't even have a key to the shed!), so instead I used balsa wood. It's super lightweight and easy to cut with a knife. Perfect for this project.
I've even made three cute quote cards for you to get you started. Hooray!
Firstly, grab your materials:
Materials:
- Quote card template (download here)
- Scissors
- Unpicker
- Balsa wood block
- Stanley knife
Step 1: Print your quote cards and cut them out.
Step 2: Using your Stanley knife, carefully cute a small wedge into the top of your balsa wood.
The easiest way is to make two seperate cuts on an angle that meet each other at the bottom.
Step 3: Carefully pick out the balsa wood wedge you have cut with your unpicker.
Be very careful as you don't want to prick your finger.
Balsa wood is very soft and you will find this very easy to do (in fact if you look closely you can see some cat claw marks on the one above from where Monty got to the block before me!).
The best part about balsa wood is you don't need to sand it as it is already nice and smooth.
The top of your quote block will look like this once you are finished.
You can see the little groove where you will place your card.
You could paint your block (gold would look sparkly and pretty!), however, I decided to keep mine true to the one my sister gave me and keep it a natural wood colour.
Step 4: Place your cards in the groove and put your new cute inspirational quote holder near your bed or on your desk.
Now there's no excuse not to be inspired every day!
You could easily make this for a gift for a friend and include your own little inspirational quotes and sayings.
This could even make a super cute gift for guests at a wedding.
We hope you get inspired!
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Rachael is an illustrator from Brisbane, Australia and is the creator of the whimsical world of Penelope and Pip. You can sneak a peek at her illustrations here and see what other projects and adventures are inspiring her on her blog too.
